Stranger Things actress and activist Millie Bobby Brown turns 18

At the age of eight, the Marbella-born Briton decided to become an actress. Her parents actively support her in the endeavor, sending her to theater workshops and moving to Hollywood with her after being noticed by an acting agent.

Brown received her first smaller engagements in series such as “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland”, in which she played the young Alice in two episodes, in “Modern Family” and “Grey’s Anatomy”, but could not prove her talent in larger roles .

When she was finally rejected for a role in “Game of Thrones” and her family had to move back to England with her for financial reasons, she was on the verge of giving up acting. She realized that it wasn’t going to be easy. “I think I really wanted this role,” she said on Jimmy Fallon’s “Tonight Show” in 2020. “I was just very discouraged.”

Meteoric rise with «Stranger Things»

But she gave her acting career another chance – Millie Bobby Brown, who celebrates her 18th birthday this Saturday (February 19), was cast in 2016 for the role of “Eleven”, a girl with telekinetic abilities who lives in has a supernatural connection with an intermediate world, was cast in the Netflix production “Stranger Things” and received an acceptance.

The series became a global hit and would become one of Netflix’s biggest hits to date, while Brown enjoyed her meteoric rise in the film industry. At just 13, she received nominations for a Primetime Emmy, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Saturn Award for her performance.

Buoyed by the success of the series, she made her big screen debut in Michael Dougherty’s 2019 sci-fi film Godzilla II: King of the Monsters. The reaction to the film was divided. In 2020, at the age of 16, she played the resourceful little sister of the famous master detective Sherlock Holmes in Harry Bradbeer’s coming-of-age film “The Enola Holmes Mysteries”. Along with her older sister, Millie Bobby Brown also served as a producer on the film.

In addition to her work in the film business, Millie Bobby Brown also launched her modeling career in 2017 with a campaign for the fashion company Calvin Klein and also launched her own PETA-certified vegan cosmetics line.

Time 100 personality and UN ambassador

Brown is also socially and politically active. She campaigns for the rights of the LGBTQ community and supported the “March for Our Lives”, which campaigns for stricter gun laws in the USA. In December 2016, Brown hosted the Unicef ​​70th Anniversary Gala at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and also became the youngest-ever Unicef ​​Goodwill Ambassador on a mission to advocate for children’s rights worldwide.

In 2018, Time Magazine even named the then 14-year-old one of the “100 Most Influential People Alive” and thus became the youngest person ever to be included in the list.

There is also a lot of recognition from the older colleagues in her shop: Filmmaker and actor Aaron Paul describes her appeal as “timeless”. Fellow actor David Harbor even called her “the next Meryl Streep”. “She can do anything,” gushed Matt Duffer, who helped her break out as one of the creators of Stranger Things. She is like a singer who hits every note. Her range is unbelievable.

But with all her success, Millie Bobby Brown also thinks of her family and appreciates what she owes her. Her parents and siblings accompany her to every shoot and are almost always by her side. “It’s really fun that they can be part of this journey and experience things with me. I wouldn’t be here today without their support,” Brown enthused. The years of hard work have paid off – for Millie Bobby Brown, all doors are wide open in Hollywood.